Portable Recover/Recycle/Recharge (RRR) machines (refrigerant recovery units) are used in connection with the service and maintenance of refrigeration systems including a vehicle's air conditioning system. The refrigerant recovery unit connects to the vehicle's refrigerant system of the vehicle to recover refrigerant from said system, separate out oil and contaminants from the refrigerant, and recharge the system with additional refrigerant.
The refrigerant recovery unit will inevitably introduce non-condensable gases into the refrigerant during its recovery operations. As part of the recycling process, the non-condensable gases are purged out of the refrigerant tank before the refrigerant is charged back into the vehicle's refrigerant system. During purging, some refrigerant is lost in the process and this is particularly true when large amounts of non-condensable gases are purged. Thus, when large amounts of non-condensable gases are present, there is a need for a refrigerant recovery unit to alert a user that a large amount of non-condensable gases needs to be purged and potentially a large amount of refrigerant will be lost and also provide different solutions to minimize said refrigerant loss.
The refrigerant recovery unit contains a refrigerant storage tank that stores the recovered refrigerant and provides the refrigerant for recharging the refrigerant systems. It has been noted that having hot refrigerant can help with charging speed and accuracy. Typically during recovery, hot recovered refrigerant that is brought into the storage tank enters at the top of the storage tank. However, because the hot recovered refrigerant enters at the top of the storage tank, it does not adequately transfer heat to the liquid refrigerant already in the tank in order to adequately heat up the refrigerant tank to a working heat level. Therefore, there is a need for a better process to increase the heat in the refrigerant tank to a desired operational level.